With the holiday season coming up, students at Detroit Country Day School got a lesson in, well, holidays.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, students at DCD Lower School learned about the various cultural aspects and customs of other cultures during an event celebrating multicultural holidays around the world.

Students from DCD's Upper School spent a couple of hours Monday teaching the younger children about cultures, observances and customs of their various holidays.

Upper School history teacher Celeste Mahabir said the school's diversity helps teach students at all levels.

"Our diversity is such an amazing resource for us," Mahabir said. "We embrace the cultural differences in our school ... the kids who get involved are excited to share their culture."

Upper School students shared information about the history and significance of each holiday to the younger students, using colorful, decorative displays to help with understanding.

This year’s displays included the Chinese New Year, Christmas, Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Ramadan. While the exhibits are beautiful and festive, school officials said they also "teach an important global awareness and appreciation" to the students and to the school community as a whole.

"We are trying to do some bridging between upper and lower students," second-grade teacher Kim Lockhart said. "Our school is so diverse. ... It's interesting to help the boys and girls accept people for who they are and appreciate different cultures and customs."

That's why junior Shreya Chalasani volunteered to be one of the "teachers." She and her team set up a display honoring Diwali, which Chalasani said uses "a lot of candles and fireworks" along with sharing other similarities to other holidays.

For instance, Christmas is celebrated with good food and sweets, as is Diwali, Chalasani said.

"It's really nice to see the connections between our holiday and theirs," Chalasani said. "I love seeing when the kids realize how similar our customs are to their customs."

The event, coming just eight days before Christmas, made it more joyful for freshman Clara Yuhn. Yuhn said she's had "great experiences" at Christmas and was happy to be able to "share the joy of celebrating Christmas."

"I've had a lot of happiness and joy (at Christmas)," Yuhn said. "I wanted to share that joy to show how important it is."

Lockhart said learning how to accept new people and new things is especially important in the divisive, negative world these days.

"It's important for them to be open-minded and accept people, especially in the world we live in today," Lockhart said.

Contact Brad Kadrich at bkadrich@hometownlife.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bkadrich.